A Blog For Thelma Todd Thelma Todd was a star of silent movies and later the talkies. She is remembered as much today for her mysterious death as she is for her films. In this blog, we take a look at Thelma Todd, her movies, and various commentaries.
Monday, June 25, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
BROADWAY LIMITED
BROADWAY LIMITED had both Zasu Pitts and Patsy Kelly in it. And Marjorie Woodworth.
Broadway Limited (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Broadway Limited | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Gordon Douglas |
| Produced by | Hal Roach (producer) |
| Written by | Rian James (original screenplay) Rian James (story "The Baby Vanishes")[citation needed] (uncredited) |
| Starring | See below |
| Music by | Charles Previn |
| Cinematography | Henry Sharp |
| Editing by | Bert Jordan |
| Release date(s) | 13 June 1941 |
| Running time | 75 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Broadway Limited is a 1941 American film directed by Gordon Douglas. The film takes its name from the Broadway Limited train that the Pennsylvania Railroad used to run between New York and Chicago.
Contents |
Plot
Following the screening of her latest film "The Scarlet Lady", Hollywood movie star April Tremaine is posing for photographs in Chicago when her overly opinionated director, Ivan Ivansky, suddenly orders the newspaper reporters and photographers out of the room. Once they are out, he tells her that her next film has to differ in tone to the previous ones, and April is horrified to know that, in order to accomplish this, he has decided she has to have a baby. Her complaints fall on deaf ears to Ivan, who charges his press agent, Patsy Riley, with the job of finding one for a publicity stunt. Patsy's first thought is to enlist the help of Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive driver Maurice "Mike" Monaghan, an old boyfriend of hers and one of the regular drivers of the PRR's top-link express train, the Broadway Limited. Mike is at first delighted when he hears that they are travelling on the Limited, but is less enthused when he is assigned to try to find the baby required for the stunt. As he gloomily outlines the problem to the bartender of the engine shed cafe, an unknown man nearby overhears, and makes a telephone call before informing Mike that he has solved his problem. Mike is so glad to see his dilemma solved that he vows to remain his lifelong friend - but unknown to him, the kidnapping of a baby belonging to family named Pierson has made headline news.
At Chicago Union Station, April's adopted baby attracts a great deal of attention from news reporters. They are watched as they board the Broadway Limited by a suspicious-looking stranger, who hands over some money to the man who helped Mike out of his predicament earlier before boarding the express himself. Mike has been rostered to the first leg of the journey from Chicago to Fort Wayne, where another crew is waiting to take the train on to Harrisburg. As they make their way along the line, he informs his fireman that he is taking his holiday in New York, and won't be returning to Chicago with him. The fireman is rather taken aback when he hears that Mike is travelling on the Limited, especially when he mentions that Patsy is on the train.
Meanwhile, Patsy is met by Myra Prottle, the president of the Chicago April Tremaine Club. Patsy is just showing her into Ivan's compartment when she is called away, and when Ivan eventually emerges, he doesn't immediately recognise Miss Prottle and firmly orders her out. She re-enters shortly after on Patsy's prompting, but this time she is on hand to explain who exactly Miss Prottle is to Ivan before he can get rid of her again, whereupon Ivan takes out his annoyance on her at his own mistake and orders her to leave him and Miss Prottle in peace. In her own compartment, April is having trouble with the baby again, but isn't sure how to stop him crying. Thinking that he may be hungry, she leaves him in Patsy's care and goes to the buffet in the observation lounge, where she unexpectedly meets up with her childhood sweetheart, Dr Harvey North, who remembers her by her real name of Mary Potter. Their brief gossip is interrupted when Patsy reminds April about the baby; Harvey, who is especially gifted with children, follows to see if he can help. When they get back to April's compartment, she confides in Patsy that Ivan may have a point in what he had said on their way to the station, about being at home, nurturing her very own child - and a young husband. Realising that she is thinking of marrying Harvey, Patsy rushes back to Ivan's compartment to break the news to him. Meanwhile, Harvey is rather taken aback by the baby's similar appearance to April's, almost as if he were her own. April tries to explain that it is merely a publicity stunt, but Harvey cannot bring himself to believe this, and when she asks for Ivan's support, unaware that he is fearful of losing his leading lady, he denies that he had anything to do with it. Displeased at being fooled, Harvey walks out and returns to the observation saloon, and an angry April forces Ivan and Patsy out of her compartment along with the baby.
At Fort Wayne, Mike hands his engine, K4 No. 3763, over to the relief crew and joins the train itself. While he is waiting in the dining car for Patsy, he is briefly harassed by a small boy before being joined at his table by Harvey. Patsy enters the dining car a little later with April and Miss Prottle. Seeing Harvey at Mike's table, April tries once again to reason with him, but Harvey still doesn't believe her. In the end she gets her way by telling him that Ivan was the father. Ivan soon approaches her table with the baby, and is confused when Harvey threatens to knock his teeth down his throat before storming off, but April smugly repeats to Ivan what she had said to Harvey. Horrified, Ivan leaves the baby with April and flees to his compartment to pack his suitcase, ordering the train porter to stop the train and let him off in spite of it being scheduled to run straight through to Harrisburg. The porter has only just gone to talk to the guard about it when Harvey comes to interrogate Ivan. Before he can do so, Ivan reveals to him that it was indeed a mere publicity stunt, leaving Harvey rather ashamed of himself.
In the dining car, Mike has joined Patsy and Miss Prottle on their table and is explaining to Miss Prottle about various aspects of railroading. He has just finished explaining how he once avoided crashing into a derailed wagon when a goods train flashes past, causing Mike to leap from his seat and yell a greeting. He explains to Patsy and Miss Prottle that a friend/relative was driving the goods engine. Eventually, Patsy and Miss Prottle head off to help April with the baby, but before she leaves, Patsy and Mike agree to meet in the observation car later on. In the observation car, Mike is just leafing through a newspaper when another passenger comments about the Pierson kidnapping, which is still making headline news. He adds that the last such crime was foiled in just three weeks, the kidnapper being sentenced to death while the accomplice, who didn't realise that the kid had been taken hostage in the first place, was given 177 years - effectively a life sentence. Mike is shocked when he reads that the baby in question is similar in appearance to the one lent to April Tremaine, and was believed to have been heading east. When he sees that the other passenger is a detective, he hastily leaves the saloon and heads for Patsy's compartment to check the baby for the one detail that hasn't been seen yet; a mole on his left shoulder.
By this time, Patsy and Miss Prottle have the baby ready for bed, but Miss Prottle insists on staying up late to listen to "Renfrew of the Mounted", a radio series of which she is a big fan. Mike hastily offers to look after the baby briefly while they go and listen to the latest installment on the observation saloon radio. As soon as they have gone, the suspicious character looks through the door and remarks to Mike about the baby, adding that he will be right outside if he needs any help. He shuts the door behind him, and Mike pulls the baby's shirt down to look at his shoulder. Sure enough, he sees a dark patch similar to a mole.
In the observation saloon, "Renfrew of the Mounted" is just finishing when Mike comes in and tries to explain their dilemma to Patsy while Miss Prottle takes charge of the baby, but Patsy is so annoyed at his anxious rambling that she mistakes it for lack of interest in her, and accordingly walks out on him. Realising that he is on his own, Mike reacts by collecting every newspaper in the train before discarding them through the carriage window. In the observation saloon, meanwhile, Harvey tries to apologise to April for his misunderstanding, but April refuses to hear him out. Ivan, who had opted to stay on the train after all, steps in and reminds Harvey that he is a mere, underpaid doctor, and advises that he shouldn't interfere with her career any longer. Although suspicious that Ivan may have ulterior motives, Harvey reluctantly agrees; however, his guilt quickly catches up with him again, and his attempts to make up with April are constantly foiled by Ivan staring warily out of his compartment. Ironically, every time he himself tries to talk with April, Harvey catches him out. This goes on until they catch Mike leaving April's compartment. Both are taken aback by this, unaware that Mike was really helping to open April's suitcase.
Later that night, Patsy is woken by a sleepless Mike, who tells her that, unbeknown to him until too late, the baby had been kidnapped. Thankfully, Patsy has a plan, and puts Mike in charge of the baby until they get a chance to drop him off at a station. Mike takes the baby back to his compartment and keeps him occupied by telling him "The Three Bears" until he falls asleep mid-story. Shortly, Patsy comes and informs him that the train has made an unscheduled stop. Mike takes this opportunity to leave the baby in the booking office of the nearby station, but just as he leaves the building, the suspicious man finds the baby with a note in his crib: "PLEASE RETURN TO CHICAGO; NOTIFY POLICE". He screws up the note and surreptitiously returns the baby to April's compartment. When Mike returns, he finds that the train is being held up for two and a half hours; there is a flood in the valley, and the express engine has been commandeered to take a consignment of coal trucks to the town affected by the flood. The other engine, a D16, is unable to make it fast enough. Mike suggests that they use the smaller engine to pull the Broadway Limited, but the driver and fireman are sceptical, saying that they "couldn't get enough head on that to haul the Limited around the block". Mike however is insistent, and challenges the superintendent, Mulcany, into firing the engine for him. With that, Mike and Mulcany prepare the D16 while No. 3673 is shunted onto the coal trucks. The D16 slips violently at first, but with careful handling and some sand on the rails, Mike manages to get the express rolling again.
Back on the train, Miss Prottle realises that the baby is missing and frantically tells Ivan, who orders the guard to call for the police. Patsy overhears and rushes Miss Prottle back to bed before repeating to Ivan what Mike had told her. Realising that they are headed for prison cells if the police are sent for, Ivan rushes off to order the guard not to send off the message, only to find he is too late. But almost immediately after he finds this out, he remembers that the baby is missing anyway, so they have no need to worry.
Meanwhile, April is woken up to find the baby on her bedside table. Although confused at first as to how the baby got into her compartment and why he is wide awake, she sees a chance to make up her dispute with Harvey, and asks the porter to send for him. When Harvey arrives, he deduces that the baby just isn't tired, much to April's relief, but kindly offers to stay and keep an eye on him. By this time April is beginning to realise just how right Ivan was about babies, and expresses to Harvey a desire to have one of her own. Ivan's words are still playing on Harvey's mind, however, and he is therefore rather pessimistic about this until April tells him that she has had enough of making films with Ivan. They both head off to Ivan's compartment, where April confesses her love to Harvey, and the two of them share a kiss just as Ivan opens his door. Ivan is horrified, not only because Harvey went back on his word, but also at April's intention to quit from Hollywood and marry Harvey. They leave Ivan pacing back and forth in his compartment, ranting and raving to himself in Russian as he tries desperately to work out a way round it.
By dawn, Ivan is still pacing in his compartment, unable to sleep, when he hits on a compromise whereby (he hopes) everyone will win. Excited, he heads off to Harvey's compartment and, admitting that he has been rather heartless up till now, proposes to build Harvey's life-ambition - "the finest clinic that science can dream up/money can buy". Harvey is unconvinced at first, but Ivan promises to pay him the required $50,000 and give him a contract before he leaves the train. While they are discussing this, the express enters Harrisburg, where it is to change engines and proceed to New York behind a GG1 electric locomotive. As soon as they have stopped, Mulcany congratulates Mike on his expert handling of the little D16 and wishes him a nice holiday. Mike returns to the train feeling pleased with himself, unaware that the police have begun to search the Limited for the baby. Following a brief visit from one of the policemen, Ivan confides in Harvey about their predicament, and is shocked to hear from Harvey that the baby is still aboard the train. He runs back to April's compartment, where April is just dressing the baby for the day, and explains to her how he had been kidnapped. Patsy enters shortly after, and is shocked to find the baby on April's bed. Ivan hands her the baby and forces her into her own compartment before hastily organising a ruse with April; as soon as the policeman enters, April pretends to be distraught while Ivan keeps him occupied for a short while.
Back in Patsy's compartment, Mike comes to inform Patsy that everything is under control - but Patsy reveals that the baby is back aboard the train, much to his bewilderment. He takes the baby back into April's compartment just in time to avoid being caught out by Miss Prottle and the policeman, whom Miss Prottle mistakes for "Renfrew of the Mounted".
The policemen soon come to the conclusion that the baby isn't on the train, and head back to make their report. With the coast clear and the engines changed, Mike heads to his compartment with the baby while Ivan, Patsy, April and Harvey try to find a way out of their crisis. Ivan suggests that they get off at Philadelphia, but Patsy reminds him that they will be rounded up by the police even if they don't stay on the train until New York. At Philadelphia, the suspicious man is met by another two men, who join the train for the last few miles to New York. Back in April's compartment, Patsy, Harvey, April and Ivan are still desperately trying to find a solution to their problem - until Miss Prottle points out that they are all heroes. Harvey and April realise that they needn't have worried about the baby after all; they just have to hand him to the police, and they will be on the front page of every newspaper in the USA. At that moment, Mike comes in and announces that he is going to surrender as soon as they reach New York, to which all eagerly agree. Patsy sends him to get the baby, and Mike, elated when he hears that they will all be received to a hero's welcome, instantly obliges. Shortly after, the guard hands Ivan the contract and a $50,000 cheque for the clinic. Harvey is just signing the contract when Mike bursts back into the room in a panic, saying that the baby has gone. All six of them spread out to look for the baby, whom Mike eventually finds with the suspicious stranger. He approaches him, demanding the baby back, but the other two passengers try to restrain him. Mike, however, is too strong for them, and knocks them down before hanging the suspicious passenger on the coat-hanger. Patsy enters and is about to take the baby when the other two passengers come round and bar her way, only to be overpowered once again by Mike.
On arrival at Pennsylvania Station, it is revealed that the Pierson baby had been found the night before, and that the suspicious-looking man was actually the baby's father; he had let them use the baby for the publicity stunt on the basis that he could use the $500 reward for a family reunion. The other two characters, he adds, are his brother and brother-in-law from Philadelphia. Mike points out what he believes is a mole on the baby's shoulder, but it turns out to be a false beauty mark that Miss Prottle had lost. With their misunderstanding sorted out, Patsy heads off to Niagara Falls with Mike while the flustered father leaves for his reunion. Before Harvey and April leave, however, they read through the contract and find that the clinic is to be located right across the street from Ivan's studio, possibly indicating that Ivan intended to keep April as his leading lady without interfering too much with her private life with Harvey. As for Miss Prottle, she chases after another policeman, once again believing him to be Renfrew.
Cast
- Victor McLaglen as Maurice "Mike" Monohan
- Marjorie Woodworth as April Tremaine / Mary Potter
- Dennis O'Keefe as Dr. Harvey North
- Patsy Kelly as Patsy Riley
- Zasu Pitts as Myra Prottle
- Leonid Kinskey as Ivan Makail Ivanski
- George E. Stone as Lefty
- Gay Ellen Dakin as Baby
- Charles C. Wilson as Detective
- John Sheehan as Conductor
- Edgar Edwards as State Trooper
- Eric Alden as State Trooper
- Sam McDaniel as Train Porter
External links
- Broadway Limited at the Internet Movie Database
- Broadway Limited is available for free download at the Internet Archive
* * *
Zasu Pitts and Patsy Kelly had both been teamed with Thelma Todd and I've seen this one mentioned in connection with those films. Not mentioned was that this one had another blonde in it, Marjorie Woodworth. Roach evidently thought he would make a star of her, but she never made it big, although she was famous at the time as "The All-American Coed", a a name they used for another of her films.
Marjorie Woodworth with railroad gear.
Marjorie Woodworth running along the train tracks with Army officers. Photograph by John Florea. USA, 1942.
Army men bouncing starlet Marjorie Woodworth into the air. Photograph by John Florea. USA, 1942.
A popular pin-up girl of World War II. This photo resembles the famous pinup of Betty Grable.
Marjorie Woodworth was about as well known for selling cosmetics as anything else.
| ||
Zasu Pitts:
http://zasu-pitts.blogspot.com/
Zasu Pitts:
http://zasupittsfan.tumblr.com/
Zasu Pitts:
http://www.reynoldsbrothers.net/index.php/site/about/zasu_pitts
Patsy Kelly:
http://www.patsykelly.com/
BROADWAY LIMITED:
http://myplace.frontier.com/~korst/id19.html
BROADWAY LIMITED:
http://workersbravo.wordpress.com/2011/04/08/broadway-limited/
Marjorie Woodworth At Maybelline Site:
http://www.maybellinebook.com/2011/06/maybelline-model-and-actress-marjorie.html
Friday, June 22, 2012
TOPPER RETURNS AND THE TOPPER
TOPPER RETURNS was released March 21, 1941. Victor Fox's comic book SAMSON #6, dated September 1941, featured a character named "The Topper" in a story that had some similarities to the movie. Was the comic book story inspired by the movie? We'll take a look at the movie and then at the comic.
Topper Returns
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Topper Returns | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Roy Del Ruth |
| Produced by | Hal Roach |
| Written by | Jonathan Latimer Thorne Smith (novel) |
| Starring | Joan Blondell Roland Young Carole Landis Billie Burke |
| Music by | Werner R. Heymann |
| Cinematography | Norbert Brodine |
| Editing by | James Newcom |
| Studio | Hal Roach Studios |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) |
|
| Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Topper Returns (1941) is the third and final entry in the initial series of films inspired by the novels of Thorne Smith. It followed Topper (1937) and Topper Takes a Trip (1938). As in the prior movies, Roland Young and Billie Burke play the Toppers, while Joan Blondell portrays a murder victim and ghost who tries to save her friend, played by Carole Landis, and unmask her killer with the help of a reluctant Cosmo Topper.
It was nominated for the Academy Award for Special Effects (Roy Seawright and Elmer Raguse) and Best Sound, Recording (Elmer Raguse).[1]
A TV series of Topper premiered in 1953 and ran for two seasons.[2] A pilot called Topper Returns (1973)[3] was later made for a proposed TV series. There was also a made-for-TV remake of the original film, Topper in (1979).[4]
In 1969, the film entered the public domain (in the USA) due to the claimants failure to renew its copyright registration in the 28th year after publication.[5]
Cast
- Joan Blondell as Gail Richards
- Roland Young as Cosmo Topper
- Carole Landis as Ann Carrington
- Billie Burke as Clara Topper
- Dennis O'Keefe as Bob
- Patsy Kelly as Emily
- H. B. Warner as Henry Carrington
- Eddie Anderson as Eddie
- George Zucco as Dr. Jeris
- Donald McBride as Police Sergeant Roberts
- Rafaela Ottiano as Lillian
- Trevor Bardette as Rama
References
- ^ "The 14th Academy Awards (1942) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. http://www.oscars.org/awards/academyawards/legacy/ceremony/14th-winners.html. Retrieved 2011-08-13.
- ^ Topper (1953 TV series) at IMDB
- ^ Topper Returns (1973 pilot for proposed TV series) at IMDB
- ^ Topper (1979 TV Movie) at IMDB
- ^ Pierce (June 2007). "Forgotten Faces: Why Some of Our Cinema Heritage Is Part of the Public Domain". Film History: An International Journal 19 (2): 125–43. DOI:10.2979/FIL.2007.19.2.125. ISSN 0892-2160. OCLC 15122313. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25165419. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
External links
- Topper Returns at the Internet Movie Database
- Topper Returns is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
- Topper Returns at the TCM Movie Database
- Topper Returns at AllRovi
Carole Landis and Joan Blondell en route to where they are going in the story.
A slight accident en route -
- and it is necessary to seek other means of transportation, which turns out to be Topper. Joan Blondell is Topper's Topper in this story as she finds it necessary to sit on his lap due to limited seating space in the car.
Roland Young with Joan Blondell, Carole Landis, and Billie Burke.
And here is one where she hasn't quite made up her mind whether to be invisible or not.
"Get outta bed? Ain't I supposed to have gone to my etoinal rest?"
A phantom, rival to the ghost, shows up and tries to take over.
But he is finally dealt with and Carole Landis lives happily ever after, in this story at least.
THE TOPPER
This comic book story also has two blondes, although they're only shown separately. And again one of them gets killed early in the story.
The hero's wearing a top hat indicates that he is a wealthy man like Bruce Wayne. Something that was common amoung comic book heroes of this period.
Another blonde shows up. My brother Dale remarked that she looked like Carole Landis when I saw this story on the "Four Color Shadows" site, which I'm reblogging the comic book story from.
They live happily ever after once again, if not quite the same way as the other story ended up.
The top hat wasn't just the symbol of the character in the comic book story, it was also used as a symbol for the character of "Topper" in the advertising for the movie. Top hats were featured prominently on several of the posters, although "Topper" doesn't wear one in the movie itself.
Was the comic book "Topper" inspired by the movie version? I don't know for sure, but it could have been. There are a number of resemblances and it came out not too long after the movie did.
We'll let someone who actually knew Victor Fox have the last word:
Jack Kirby: "Victor Fox was a character. He'd look up at the ceiling with a big cigar, this little fellow, very broad, going back and forth with his hands behind his back saying, 'I'm the King of Comics! I'm the King of Comics!' and we would watch him and, of course, smile a little because he was a genuine type".
Watch TOPPER RETURNS:
Carole Landis, Official Site:
http://carolelandisofficial.com/
Joan Blondell:
http://www.classicmoviefavorites.com/blondell/
Billie Burke:
http://solongletty.tripod.com/billieburke/
Eddie Anderson:
http://www.radiohof.org/comedy/eddieanderson.html
Download TOPPER RETURNS:
http://archive.org/details/Topper_Returns_41
Thorne Smith:
http://www.thornesmith.net/
Thorne Smith Blog:
http://www.thornesmithblog.com/
Four Color Shadows:
http://fourcolorshadows.blogspot.com/
Samspon Comics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson_(Fox_Feature_Syndicate)
Fox Feature Syndicate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Feature_Syndicate
Victor Fox's Mystery Men:
http://www.comicartville.com/victorfox.htm
Monday, June 18, 2012
FOLLOW THROUGH
FOLLOW THROUGH was an early technicolor film starring Buddy Rogers and Nancy Carrol, with Jack Haley and Zelma O'Neal in supporting roles, and Thelma Todd as the "Blonde Menace".
Technicolor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Technicolor" is the trademark for a series of color motion picture processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation (a subsidiary of Technicolor, Inc.), now a division of Technicolor SA. The Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation was founded in Boston in 1914 (incorporated in Maine in 1915) by Herbert Kalmus, Daniel Frost Comstock, and W. Burton Wescott.[2] The "Tech" in the company's name was inspired by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where Kalmus received his undergraduate degree and was later an instructor.[3] Technicolor, Inc. was chartered in Delaware in 1921.[4][5]
Name usage
The term "Technicolor" historically has been used to describe four concepts:- Technicolor process or format: the several image origination systems used in film production, which culminated in the "three-strip" process. (1917–1954)
- Technicolor IB printing ("IB" abbreviates "imbibition", a dye-transfer operation): a process for making color motion picture prints that allows the use of dyes which are more stable and permanent than those created in chromogenic color prints. Originally used for printing from color separation negatives photographed on black-and-white film in a Technicolor camera, it was later applied to making prints from negatives photographed on standard color film in an ordinary camera. (1928–2002, with differing gaps of availability post-1974 depending on lab)
- Technicolor labs: a collection of film laboratories across the world owned and run by Technicolor for post-production services including developing, printing, and transferring films in all major developing processes, as well as Technicolor's proprietary ones. Films using these labs thus retain a "Color by Technicolor" credit even though no Technicolor format or printing have been offered recently. (1922–present)
- Technicolor: an umbrella company encompassing all the above as well as other ancillary services. (1914–present)
History
Two-color Technicolor
Process 1
Technicolor originally existed in a two-color (red and green) system. In Process 1 (1916), a prism beam-splitter behind the camera lens exposed two consecutive frames of a single strip of black-and-white negative film simultaneously, one behind a red filter, the other behind a green filter. Because two frames were being exposed at the same time, the film had to be photographed and projected at twice the normal speed. Exhibition required a special projector with two apertures (one with a red filter and the other with a green filter), two lenses, and an adjustable prism that aligned the two images on the screen.[6] The results were first demonstrated to members of the American Institute of Mining Engineers in New York on February 21, 1917.[7] Technicolor itself produced the only movie made in Process 1, The Gulf Between, which had a limited tour of Eastern cities, beginning with Boston and New York in September 1917, primarily to interest motion picture producers and exhibitors in color. The near-constant need for a technician to adjust the projection alignment doomed this additive color process. Only a few frames of The Gulf Between, showing star Grace Darmond, are known to exist today.
Process 2
Convinced that there was no future in additive color processes, Kalmus focused his attention on subtractive color processes. This culminated in what would eventually be known as Process 2 (1922) (sometimes confusingly called "two-strip"[8]). As before, the special Technicolor camera used a beam-splitter that simultaneously exposed two frames of a single strip of black-and-white film, one behind a green filter and one behind a red filter.[9]The difference was that the two-component negative was now used to produce a subtractive color print. Because the colors were physically present in the print, no special projection equipment was required and the correct registration of the two images did not depend on the skill of the projectionist.
The frames exposed behind the green filter were printed on one strip of black-and-white film, and the frames exposed behind the red filter were printed on another strip. After development, each strip was toned to a color complementary to that of the filter—red for the green-filtered images, green for the red-filtered. Unlike tinting, which adds a uniform veil of color to the entire image, toning chemically replaces the black-and-white silver image with transparent coloring matter, so that the highlights remain clear (or nearly so), dark areas are strongly colored, and intermediate tones are colored proportionally. The two strips, made of film stocks thinner than regular film, were then cemented together base to base to create a projection print. The Toll of the Sea debuted on November 26, 1922 as the first general release film to use Technicolor.
Although successful commercially, Process 2 was plagued with technical problems. Because the images on the two sides of the print were not in the same plane, both could not be perfectly focused at the same time. The significance of this problem depended on the depth of field of the projection optics. Much more serious was a problem with cupping. Films in general tended to become somewhat cupped after repeated use. Every time a film was projected, each frame in turn was heated by the intense light in the projection gate, causing it to bulge slightly. After it had passed through the gate, it cooled and the bulge subsided, but not quite completely. It was found that the cemented prints were not only very prone to cupping, but that the direction of cupping would suddenly and randomly change from back to front or vice versa, so that even the most attentive projectionist could not prevent the image from temporarily popping out of focus whenever the direction changed. Technicolor had to supply new prints so the cupped ones could be shipped to their Boston laboratory for flattening, after which they could be put back into service, at least for a while. The unusual thickness of the film and the presence of image layers on both surfaces made the prints especially vulnerable to scratching, and because the scratches were vividly colored they were very obtrusive. Splicing a Process 2 print without special attention to its unusual laminated construction was apt to result in a bad splice that would fail as it passed through the projector. Even before these problems became apparent, Technicolor regarded this cemented print approach as a stopgap and was already at work developing an improved process.[10]
Process 3
Based on the same dye-transfer technique first applied to motion pictures in 1916 by Max Handschiegl, Technicolor Process 3 (1928) was developed to eliminate the projection print made of double-cemented prints in favor of a print created by dye imbibition. The Technicolor camera for Process 3 was identical to that for Process 2, simultaneously photographing two consecutive frames of a black-and-white film behind red and green filters.In the lab, every other frame of the camera negative was printed onto one strip of specially prepared gelatin film (or "matrix") to create a red record, and the remaining frames were printed onto a second strip of blank film to create a green record. On exposure to UV light, the gelatin hardened. Areas not exposed to light were washed away by the developer leaving a relief image created by the hardened gelatin. The two matrix films were then soaked in dye baths of their complementary colors. The strip containing the red record was dyed green and the green record strip was dyed red. The thicker the gelatin on each frame, the more dye it absorbed.
During the final printing, the matrices were placed in contact with a blank, emulsified strip of film (known as the "blank") and the dye was transferred from the matrices to the new print. A mordant made from deacetylated Chitin was applied to the blank before printing, which kept the dye from migrating.
As this dye-transfer process was introduced around the same time as sound-on-film, the emulsion on the blank was adapted to a black-and-white film stock where the soundtrack and frame line were printed in black and white first, and then the dye-layer was added.
In 1931, an improvement of Technicolor Process 3 was developed which removed grain from the Technicolor film, resulting in more vivid and vibrant colors.[11] This process was first used on a Radio Picture entitled: The Runaround (1931). The new process not only improved the color but also removed specks (that looked like bugs) from the screen, which had previously blurred outlines and lowered visibility. This new improvement along with a reduction in cost (from 8.85 cents to 7 cents per foot) led to a new color revival.[12] Warner Brothers took the lead once again by producing three features (out of an announced plan for six features): Manhattan Parade (1932), Doctor X (1932) and Mystery of the Wax Museum (1933). Radio Pictures followed by announcing plans to make four more features in the new process.[13] Only one of these, Fanny Foley Herself (1931), was actually produced. Although Paramount Pictures announced plans to make eight features and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer promised two color features, these never materialized.[14] This may have been the result of the lukewarm reception to these new color pictures by the public. Two independently produced features were also made with this improved Technicolor process: Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1934) and Kliou the Tiger (1935).
Very few of the original camera negatives of movies made in Technicolor Process 2 or 3 survive. In the late 1940s, most were discarded from storage at Technicolor in a space-clearing move, after the studios declined to reclaim the materials. Original Technicolor prints that survived into the 1950s were often used to make black-and-white prints for television and simply discarded thereafter. This explains why so many early color films exist today solely in black and white.
Warner Bros., which had vaulted from a minor exhibitor to a major studio by its introduction of the talkies, incorporated Technicolor's printing to enhance their films. Other producers followed Warner Bros.' example by making features in color, with either Technicolor or one of its competitors, such as Brewster Color and Multicolor (later Cinecolor).
Consequently, the introduction of color did not increase the number of audiences to the point where it was economical. This, and the Great Depression severely strained movie studios' finances, and spelled the end of Technicolor's first financial success.
Three-strip Technicolor
Process 4: Development and introduction
As early as 1924, Technicolor envisioned a full-color process, and by 1929, the company was actively developing such a process. Hollywood made so much use of Technicolor in 1929 and 1930, that many believed the feature film industry would soon be turning out color films exclusively. By 1931, the Great Depression took its toll on the movie industry, and they began to cut back on expenses. The production of color films had decreased dramatically by 1932, when Burton Wescott and Joseph A. Ball completed work on a new three-color movie camera. Technicolor could now promise studios a full range of colors, as opposed to the limited red-green spectrum of previous films. The light passing through the camera lens was split into two beam paths by a prism block. Green light was recorded through a green filter on panchromatic film, while the other half of the light passed through a magenta filter and was recorded on bipack film stock with two strips running base to base. On this stock, the front film was sensitized to blue light only, backed by a red gelatin layer which acted as a light filter to the panchromatic film behind it. This process accurately reproduced the full color spectrum when optically printed using a dye-transfer process in cyan, magenta and yellow.Kalmus convinced Walt Disney to shoot one of his Silly Symphony cartoons Flowers and Trees (1932) in Process 4, the new "three-strip" process. Seeing the potential in full-color Technicolor, Walt Disney negotiated an exclusive contract for the use of the process, continuing to September 1935 (when other studios could start producing cartoons in the process, but were barred from releasing them until 1936).[15][16][17] Competitors such as the Fleischer Studios and the Ub Iwerks studio were shut out – they had to settle for either the two-color Technicolor systems or use a competing process such as Cinecolor.
Flowers and Trees was a success with audiences and critics alike, and won the first Academy Award for Animated Short Film. All subsequent Silly Symphonies from 1933 on were shot with the three-strip process. One 1933 Silly Symphony, Three Little Pigs, engendered such a positive audience response that it overshadowed the feature films with which it was shown. Hollywood was buzzing about color film again. According to Fortune magazine, "Merian C. Cooper, producer for RKO Radio Pictures and director of King Kong (1933), saw one of the Silly Symphonies and said he never wanted to make a black-and-white picture again."
Although Disney's first 60 or so Technicolor cartoons used the three-strip camera, an improved "successive exposure" process was adopted circa 1937 mainly for cartoon work: the camera would contain one strip of black-and-white negative film, and each animation cel would be photographed three times, on three sequential frames, behind alternating red, green, and blue filters (the so-called "Technicolor Color Wheel", then an option of the Acme, Producers Service and Photo-Sonics animation cameras).[18] Three separate dye transfer printing matrices would be created from the red, green, and blue records in their respective complementary colors, cyan, magenta and yellow.
Successive Exposure was also employed in Disney's "True Life Adventure" live-action series, wherein the 16mm Kodachrome Commercial principal photography element was first duplicated onto a 35mm fine-grain SE negative element in one pass of the 16mm element, thereby reducing wear on the relatively small 16mm element and also eliminating registration errors between colors. The live-action SE negative thereafter entered other Technicolor processes and were incorporated with SE animation and three-strip studio live-action, as required, thereby producing the combined result.
Shooting Technicolor footage, 1932–1955
The Technicolor Process 4 used colored filters, a beam splitter made from a thinly coated mirror inside a split-cube prism, and three strips of black-and-white film (hence the "three-strip" designation). The beam splitter allowed ⅓ of the light to shine through a green filter onto one strip of film, capturing the green part of the image. The other ⅔ was reflected sideways by the mirror and passed through a magenta filter, to remove any green (which would have been redundant). The diverted non-green light exposed a pair of film strips spooled together; one which captured only blues, itself a filter, and another which picked up whatever was left (the red part of the image). The "blue" strip could act as a filter because it was a special type of film known as orthochromatic, which is designed to absorb some light frequencies and not others. The "green" and "red" strips were both of the broad-spectrum, panchromatic type.
To print the film, each colored strip had a print struck from it onto a light sensitive piece of gelatin film. When processed, "dark" portions of the film hardened, and light areas were washed away. The gelatin film strip was then soaked with a dye complementary to the color recorded by the film: cyan for red, magenta for green, and yellow for blue (see also: CMYK color model for a technical discussion of color printing).
A single clear strip of black-and-white film with the soundtrack and frame lines printed in advance was first treated with a mordant solution and then brought into contact with each of the three dye-loaded printing strips in turn, building up the complete color image. Each dye was absorbed, or imbibed, by the gelatin coating on the receiving strip rather than simply deposited onto its surface, hence the term "dye imbibition". Strictly speaking, this is a mechanical printing process, very loosely comparable to offset printing or lithography, and not a photographic one, as the actual printing does not involve a chemical change caused by exposure to light.
In the early days of the process, the un-exposed blank receiver film would be pre-exposed with a 50% black-and-white image derived from the green strip, the so-called Key, or K, record. This process was used largely to cover up fine edges in the picture where colors would mix unrealistically (also known as fringing). This additional black increased the contrast of the final print and concealed any fringing. However, overall colorfulness was compromised as a result. In 1944, Technicolor had improved the process to make up for these shortcomings and the K record was, therefore, eliminated.
Convincing Hollywood
The studios were willing to adopt three-color Technicolor for live-action feature production, if it could be proved viable. Shooting three-strip Technicolor required very bright lighting, as the film had an extremely slow speed of ASA 5. That, and the bulk of the cameras and a lack of experience with three-color cinematography made for skepticism in the studio board rooms.Fortune magazine's October 1934 article stressed that Technicolor, as a corporation, was rather remarkable in that it kept its investors quite happy despite the fact that it had only been in profit twice in all of the years of its existence, during the early boom at the turn of the decade. A well-managed company, half of whose stock was controlled by a clique loyal to Kalmus, Technicolor never had to cede any control to its bankers or unfriendly stockholders. In the mid-'30s, all the major studios except MGM were in the financial doldrums, and a color process that truly reproduced the visual spectrum was seen as a possible shot-in-the-arm for the ailing industry.
In November 1933, Technicolor's Herbert Kalmus and RKO announced plans to produce three-strip Technicolor films in 1934, beginning with Ann Harding starring in a projected film The World Outside.[19]
Live-action use of three-strip Technicolor was first seen in a musical number of the MGM feature The Cat and the Fiddle, released February 16, 1934. On July 1, MGM released Hollywood Party with a Technicolor cartoon sequence "Hot Choc-late Soldiers" produced by Walt Disney. On July 28 of that year, Warner Brothers released Service With a Smile, followed by Good Morning, Eve! on August 5, both being comedy short films starring Leon Errol and filmed in three-strip Technicolor. Pioneer Pictures, a movie company formed by Technicolor investors, produced the film usually credited as the first live-action short film shot in the three-strip process, La Cucaracha released August 31, 1934. La Cucaracha is a two-reel musical comedy that cost $65,000, approximately four times what an equivalent black-and-white two-reeler would cost. Released by RKO, the short was a success in introducing the new Technicolor as a viable medium for live-action films. The three-strip process also was used in some short sequences filmed for several movies made during 1934, including the final sequences of The House of Rothschild (20th Century Pictures/United Artists) with George Arliss and Kid Millions (Samuel Goldwyn Studios) with Eddie Cantor.
Pioneer/RKO's Becky Sharp (1935) became the first feature film photographed entirely in three-strip Technicolor. Initially, three-strip Technicolor was only used indoors. In 1936, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine became the first production to have outdoor sequences, with impressive results. The spectacular success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), which was released in December 1937 and became the top-grossing film of 1938, attracted the attention of the studios.
Limitations and difficulties
One major drawback of Technicolor's three-strip process was that it required a special, bulky, and very heavy Technicolor camera. Film studios could not purchase Technicolor cameras, only rent them for their productions, complete with camera technicians and a "color supervisor" to ensure sets, costumes and makeup didn't push beyond the limitations of the system. Often on many early productions, the supervisor was Natalie Kalmus, ex-wife of Herbert Kalmus and part owner of the company. Directors had great difficulty with her; Vincente Minnelli said, "I couldn't do anything right in Mrs. Kalmus's eyes."[20]The process of splitting the image reduced the amount of light reaching the film stock. Since the film speed of the stocks used were fairly slow, early Technicolor productions required a greater amount of lighting than a black-and-white production. It is reported that temperatures on the film set of The Wizard of Oz from the hot studio lights frequently exceeded 100 °F (38 °C), and some of the more heavily costumed characters required a large water intake. Some actors and actresses claimed to have suffered permanent eye damage from the high levels of illumination.[21]
Because of the added lighting and triple amount of film necessary, Technicolor demanded high film budgets.
The introduction of Eastmancolor and decline
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Eastman Kodak introduced its first 35 mm color motion picture negative film in 1950. The first commercial feature film to use Eastmancolor was the National Film Board of Canada documentary Royal Journey, released in December 1951.[22][23] In 1952, an improved version suitable for Hollywood production was introduced.[24] This allowed Technicolor prints to be struck from a single camera negative exposed in a standard camera. Foxfire (1955), filmed in 1954 by Universal, starring Jane Russell and Jeff Chandler, was the last American-made feature photographed with a Technicolor three-strip camera.
In 1952, Eastman Kodak introduced a high-quality color print film, allowing studios to produce prints through standard photographic processes as opposed to having to send them to Technicolor for the expensive dye imbibition process. That same year, the Technicolor lab adapted its dye transfer process to derive matrices and imbibition prints directly from Eastmancolor negatives, as well as other stocks such as Ansco and DuPont color stocks.
Technicolor unveiled their stereoscopic camera for 3-D films in March 1953. The rig used two three-strip cameras, running a total of six strips of film at once (three for the left eye and three for the right).[25] Only two films were shot with this camera set-up: Flight to Tangier (1953) and the Martin and Lewis comedy Money From Home (1954). A similar, but different system had been used by a different company, using two three-strip cameras side-by-side for a British short called Royal River.
In 1954, Technicolor made reduction dye transfer prints of the large format VistaVision negative. Their process was also adapted for use with Todd-AO, Ultra Panavision 70 and Technirama formats. All of them were an improvement over the three-strip negatives since the negative print-downs generated sharper and finer grain dye transfer copies.
By the late 1960s, the dye-transfer process eventually fell out of favor in the United States as being too expensive and too slow in turning out prints. With the growing number of screens in the US, the standard run of 200-250 prints increased. And while dye-transfer printing yielded superior color printing, the number of high speed prints that could be struck in labs all over the country outweighed the fewer, slower number of prints that could only be had in Technicolor's labs. The last American film released before Technicolor closed their dye plant was The Godfather, Part II (1974).
In 1975, the US dye transfer plant was closed and Technicolor became an Eastman-only processor. In 1977, the final dye-transfer printer left in Rome was used by Dario Argento to make prints for his horror film Suspiria.[26] In 1980, the Italian Technicolor plant ceased printing dye transfer.
The British line was shut down in 1978 and sold to Beijing Film and Video Lab in China. A great many films from China and Hong Kong were made in the Technicolor dye transfer process, including Zhang Yimou's Ju Dou and even one American film, Space Avenger (1989, director: Richard W. Haines). The Beijing line was shut down in 1993 for a number of reasons, including inferior processing.
Reintroduction of the dye transfer process
In 1997, Technicolor reintroduced the dye transfer process to general film production. A refined version of the printing process of the 1960s and 1970s, it was used on a limited basis in the restorations of films such as The Wizard of Oz, Rear Window, Funny Girl, and Apocalypse Now Redux.After its reintroduction, the dye transfer process was used in several big-budget, modern Hollywood productions. These included Bulworth, Pearl Harbor, and Toy Story. The distinct "look" this process achieves, often sought after by filmmakers looking to re-create the period of time at which Technicolor was at its most prominent, is difficult to obtain through conventional, high-speed printing methods and is one explanation for the enduring demand and credibility of the process.[citation needed]
The dye-transfer process was discontinued by Technicolor in 2002 after the purchase of the company by Thompson which in 2010 changed its name to Technicolor SA.
Dye transfer Technicolor in archival work
By the late 1990s the dye transfer process still had its advantages in the film archival community. Because the dye transfer process used stable acid dyes, Technicolor prints are considered of archival quality. A Technicolor print from the dye transfer era will retain its original colors virtually unchanged for decades with proper storage, whereas prints printed on Eastmancolor stocks produced prior to 1983 may suffer color fading after exposure to ultraviolet light and hot, humid conditions as a result of less stable photochemical dyes. Fading on some prints is so rapid that in many cases, after as little as five to ten years, only the magenta record is perceivable on the film.An article[27] on the restoration of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope claimed that a rare dye-transfer print of the movie, made for director George Lucas at the British Technicolor lab during its initial run, had been used as a color reference for the restoration. The article claimed that conventional color prints of the movie had all degraded over the years to the extent that no two had the same color balance. However, because of the variation in color balance per print, dye-transfer prints are used in the professional restoration world as only a rough guideline.
Furthermore, three-strip camera negatives are all on silver-based black-and-white stock, which have stayed unaltered over the course of time with proper handling. This has become of importance in recent years with the large market for films transferred to video formats for home viewing. The best color quality control for video transfer by far is achieved by optically printing from Technicolor negatives, or by recombining the negative through digital means and printing, onto low-contrast stock.
One problem that has resulted from Technicolor negatives is the rate of shrinkage from one strip to another. Because three-Strip negatives are shot on three rolls, they are subject to different rates of shrinkage depending on storage conditions. Today, digital technology allows for a precise re-alignment of the negatives by resizing shrunken negatives digitally to correspond with the other negatives. The G, or Green, record is usually taken as the reference as it is the record with the highest resolution. It is also a record with the correct "wind" (emulsion position with respect to the camera's lens). Shrinkage and re-alignment (resizing) are non-issues with Successive Exposure (single-roll RGB) Technicolor camera negatives. This issue could have been eliminated, for three-strip titles, had the preservation elements (fine-grain positives) been Successive Exposure, but this would have required the preservation elements to be 3,000 feet or 6,000 feet whereas three-strip composited camera and preservation elements are 1,000 feet or 2,000 feet.
One issue that modern reproduction has had to contend with is that the contrast of the three film strips is not the same. This gives the effect on technicolor prints that (for example) fades cause the color balance of the image to change as the image is faded. Transfer to digital media has attempted to correct the differing color balances and is largely successful. However, a few odd artifacts remain such that saturated parts of the image may show a false color. Where the image of a flame is included in shot, it will rarely be of the expected orange/yellow color often being depicted as green.
Technicolor today
The Technicolor company remained a highly successful film processing firm and later became involved in video and audio duplication (CD, VHS and DVD manufacturing) and digital video processes. MacAndrews & Forbes acquired Technicolor, Inc. in 1982 for $100 million,[28] then sold it in 1988 to the British firm Carlton Communications PLC for $780 million.[29] Technicolor, Inc. acquired the film processing company Consolidated Film Industries in 2000.[30] Since 2001, Technicolor has been part of the French-headquartered electronics and media conglomerate Thomson.[31] The name of Thomson group was changed to “Technicolor” as of February 1, 2010, re-branding the entire company after its American film technology subsidiary.[32]The visual aesthetic of dye transfer Technicolor continues to be used in Hollywood, usually in films set in the mid-20th century. Parts of The Aviator, the 2004 biopic of Howard Hughes, were digitally manipulated to imitate color processes that were available during the periods each scene takes place. The two-color look of the film is incorrectly cited[citation needed] as looking like Technicolor's two-color systems, and is in fact a facsimile of Hughes' own color system, Multicolor. The "three-strip" Technicolor look begins after the newsreel footage of Hughes making the first flight around the world.
See also
Further reading
- Fred E. Basten, Glorious Technicolor: The Movies' Magic Rainbow. Easton Studio Press, 2005. ISBN 0-9647065-0-4
- Adrian Cornwell-Clyne, Colour Cinematography. London Champman & Hall, 1951.
- Richard W. Haines, Technicolor Movies: The History of Dye Transfer Printing. McFarland & Company, 2003. ISBN 0-7864-1809-5
- John Waner, Hollywood's Conversion of All Production to Color, Tobey Publishing, 2000.
- Herbert T. Kalmus with Elenaore King Kalmus, Mr. Technicolor: The Fascinating Story of the Genius Who Invented Technicolor and Forever Changed the History of Cinema", MagicImage Filmbooks, 1993. ISBN 1-882127-31-5
Charles "Buddy" Rogers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Charles Rogers | |
|---|---|
 in the film Wings (1927) | |
| Born | Charles Edward Rogers August 13, 1904 Olathe, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | April 21, 1999 (aged 94) Rancho Mirage, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor/Musician |
| Years active | 1926–99 |
| Spouse | Mary Pickford (m. 1937–1979) (her death) Beverly Ricondo (m. 1981–1999) (his death) |
Life and career
Early years According to the "American Dance Bands On Record and Film (1915-1942)" compiled by Richard J. Johnson and Bernard H. Shirley (Rustbooks Publishing, 2010), Rogers was not a bandleader in the normal use of the term. Instead, he was a film actor who fronted a band for publicity purposes. His later bands were organized by Milt Shaw. In 1930, he recorded 2 records for Columbia as a solo singer with a small jazz band accompanying. In 1932, he signed with Victor and recorded 4 sweet dance band records. In 1938, He signed with Vocalion and recorded 6 swing records (see below). CareerNicknamed "Buddy", his most remembered performance in film was opposite Clara Bow in the 1927 Academy Award winning Wings, the first film ever honored as "Best Picture."Respected by his peers for his work in film and for his humanitarianism, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Rogers in 1986 with The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Charles "Buddy" Rogers has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6135 Hollywood Blvd. A longtime resident and benefactor of California's Coachella Valley, Rogers was honored by having named after him a children's symphony orchestra that he and second wife, Beverley Ricondo, a real estate agent he married in 1981, helped found. A street in Cathedral City, California is named after him as well. Personal life DeathRogers died in Rancho Mirage, California in 1999 at the age of 94 of natural causes, and was interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery, Cathedral City near Palm Springs, California.Filmography  Jack Haley had been in the stage version of FOLLOW THROUGH. He would later gain fame for his portrayl of the tine woodsman in THE WIZARD OF OZ. In between he would appear in another movie with Thelma Todd, SITTING PRETTY, and one with her replacement Lyda Roberti, PICK A STAR.    
In this movie, Thelma Todd has a ball!
Cast
Watch FOLLOW THROUGH at youtube: Buddy Rogers at Golden Silents: http://www.goldensilents.com/stars/charlesbuddyrogers.html Nancy Carroll: http://silentladies.com/PCarroll.html http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0007216/ http://www.hollybee.org/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Carroll Jack Haley: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0355095/ Technicolor: http://technicolor.umwblogs.org/ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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